By Blood and Iron
by helium lost
Summary: [OCs] Two hundred years ago, Prof. Maikotsu discovered a metalbending clan. Sixty years later, Hiko, commissioner of weaponry, finds one of Maikotsu’s letters, and decides that he has other plans for that clan—plans that can easily end in disaster.
1. Chapter 1

**By Blood and Iron**  
. helium lost .

**Author's Notes:** I had this plot bunny from a month or two ago. All I ask of you is to _not_ just automatically flame or dislike this fic or something based on the idea. Thanks.

Anyway, I had originally planned for this to be written as a one-shot, but when I finished the first section, I realized that it would be _way_ too long to squeeze into 9,000-10,000 words, which is the length of the longest one-shot I've written. So, I'm splitting it up into chapters. Hopefully, this one won't die, like all my other multi-chaptered fics. -.-;

Enjoy!

• **1 **•

Professor Maikotsu tumbled out of the reach of the forest, wheezing as he regained his footing, supporting himself with his hands on his thighs. Sweat dripped down the sides of his dirt-smeared face; his hat rested askew atop his head, and there were various rips and tears in the fabric of his clothing. Numerous scratches adorned his exposed flesh, most of them still bright red and fresh.

Not exactly his idea of a perfect expedition, wandering around the rainforest for days, surviving on whatever flora and fauna he happened to come across (luckily for him, he'd taken an in-depth botany class in his younger years, without which he would _undoubtedly_ be dead by now). He _knew_ it had been a bad idea to come alone—no, scratch that, a horrible, seriously _hideous_ idea—but no one else was interested in looking for those fabled animals, and his itching curiosity to find out whether or not toucan-monkeys existed had gotten the better of him.

He straightened up and wiped the sweat off his brow with the back of his mangled sleeve, taking in a couple more gulps of air. He raised a hand and shielded his eyes against the sun, inspecting the clearing.

What he found astonished him.

Glittering in the mid-afternoon sun about five small huts, constructed with a primitive form of mud bricks—but the bricks didn't _look_ primitive: they were crafted expertly, in a very sophisticated manner, each one cut precisely to fit the other, a precision that was hard to obtain with any sort of tool he knew of.

But, as all people know, mud doesn't _glitter_, no matter how well it's cut—rather, it was the ornate decorations coiled around the bricks that glittered; it was those same decorations that astonished him.

They weren't just little pieces of metal stuck to the huts—no, each thread of metal kept an even width its whole length, and each of the small shapes running parallel to the threads was exactly the same size and shape as the others, as if they had been copied from a single template—but there was, really, _nothing_ that could do that. Nature_ can't even do that,_ he thought to himself. _Even identical twins have some distinguishing feature separating them_. His eyes darted over the rest of the huts, noting that they were all crafted in the same way, with the same eerie precision.

As his eyes swept over the village, something caught his eye. He backtracked, and his jaw dropped when his eyes set on what was standing in the middle of the clearing, equidistant from all the huts—a statue, amazingly detailed and anatomically correct for what he was assuming was a small, primitive tribe (though _that_ assumption was rapidly being shattered). It was a metal statue of a woman and a man, back to back, the woman slightly shorter than the man; both had their hands held out before them, blobs of shiny metal flowing up from their palms. He had thought at first that it was a statue of waterbenders, but, glancing around, he saw that the majority of the clearing was land, not water; there was a small stream running through the forest not too far from the clearing, but it could _hardly_ be enough for waterbending…

But, as he glanced around again at the glittering metal, only one explanation came to mind, and it was a preposterous one, at that.

He had, somehow, stumbled upon a clan of _metalbenders_.

But that was a ridiculous idea—everyone knows that there are only four types of benders, and metal isn't one of them.

Yet, it _was_ possible…

Judging from the location of the village, nestled deep in the heart of the rainforest, and the size of the clan, it looked as if the clan didn't get very much contact with the outside world—so, even if they _were_ metalbenders (_Not likely,_ he thought, but with definite hesitation), the outside world probably wouldn't know about them—in fact, he could possibly be the first outsider to have encountered them.

As for metalbending itself… Supposing a small group of earthbenders had split off from the rest of the pack, back in the days of early man, and had settled here, isolating themselves from the rest of humanity… Supposing some sort of natural event had caused the need to metalbend to arise, and had caused it to be passed down from generation to generation… He shook his head, but some part of his brain told him that maybe, just _maybe_, that was what had happened—essentially, earthbending and metalbending would be very similar.

Another part of his brain told him that he would have to find a member of this clan and just get him or her to metalbend. He'd believe it if he saw it with his own eyes, and, as the current head of anthropology at the Fire Nation's most prestigious university, he couldn't free himself from the strings of curiosity that tugged at him. If they really _were_ metalbenders, then this could be the greatest find of the century—maybe even of the last _few_ centuries.

Out of the corner of his eye, Professor Maikotsu saw something move. He turned quickly, then took a step back, eyes widening. In his haste to examine the architecture and hypothesize about the origin of metalbenders, he had passed clean over the man sitting in the doorway of the hut closest to him.

And now, that man was standing up.

He was by far the strangest man that Professor Maikotsu had ever seen—the only clothing he wore was a loincloth, as well as sandals. But what was more interesting was the glittering—there were small pieces of metal embedded all over his face, in his ears, and in various other places, as well. Upon closer inspection—that is, as the professor tried to examine the man from as close as possible while still maintaining a respectable distance, in case the man was hostile—Professor Maikotsu realized that the pieces of metal were pierced _through_ his skin. On his eyebrow, there were various bars with little orbs at both ends; a ring pierced the center of his lip, two more orbs on either side of it. His ears were adorned with no fewer than seven piercings each.

The professor saw the man approaching him, then backed away cautiously; the man's pierced, metallic look was shocking enough, nevermind his strong stature—one that could chuck him away to the next continent, if he decided that foreigners weren't welcome. The man caught up with the professor quickly enough, baring down on him with his eyes, which were a silvery-gold color; the professor returned the gaze with his amber eyes, trembling slightly.

The man said something, rapidly. The professor blinked.

"…What?" he said. The man raised an eyebrow, then turned and looked at a woman not too far behind him, who had emerged from the hut, curious. He said something to her, and she replied, both in that language that he couldn't understand.

But as they continued, Professor Maikotsu realized that he could understand a word or two here and there, and the occasional phrase. Understanding dawned on him when he realized that they were speaking a dialect of the common tongue—not surprising, seeing how they had probably been isolated for a long time. It was only logical that their language took off, as well.

The man turned back to Professor Maikotsu, then reached up and took his hat. The professor didn't protest, instead looking at the small bars driven through the webs between the man's fingers, wincing. The man examined the hat, looking at it from all angles, then untied the string at the bottom. He placed it on his own head, imitating the professor; the woman behind him laughed, and he grinned. The professor was relieved to see that they were both friendly.

The man returned the professor's hat to him, then bowed slightly and said, "Welcome."

The professor smiled. _There_ was a word that hadn't been changed through years of isolation. He bowed back and said "Thank you", hoping that the phrase had remained the same, as well.

Judging by the smile on the man's face, it was.

• • •

**Author's Notes:** As always, any and all feedback is greatly appreciated, especially constructive criticism. :) Also, I might change the title, seeing how I don't like the current one very much.


	2. Chapter 2

**By Blood and Iron**  
. helium lost .

**Author's Notes:** Bleh, I decided to change the title back to my original title. Anywho, thanks for the reviews, people—I'm glad to see that my idea's pretty plausible and not being rejected outright :D

• **2 **•

Hiko woke with a start. Sunlight streamed in through the window; birds chirped, settled peacefully on the branches of the cherry trees outside. Hiko sat up slowly, prying the sheets of paper off his face; a small puddle of droll had dried to an off-white color, sticking the papers to his cheek. He yawned, idly scratching the remnants of drool off his cheek. He blinked his amber-colored eyes and rubbed at the corners of them, trying to rid himself of the early-morning grit.

It took him a moment to remember what he was doing. Piled up in front of him were various books, words gilded on their spine: _A History of Weaponry, Weapons of the Fire Nation, Warfare and its Machines_… He glanced at the paper, which had crumpled because of his drool, the ink bleeding. Hiko groaned; he'd have to rewrite his report—what a pain; he had spent so much time writing it, too… He sighed and pulled another book toward him, riffling the pages and glancing at the text and line drawings. He'd seen all of these already. Frowning, he ran a hand through his hair. These books held nothing new, and his report was coming along slowly at best.

The heavy wooden door opened. He glanced over at it and saw Kyosuke, who stood with an apologetic look on his face.

"Sorry if I'm disturbing you, Hiko, but I just wanted to let you know that breakfast's ready, if you're hungry."

"Mmm… Yeah, thanks," he murmured, taking another book from the stack.

"Are you busy today? Some of the other guys wanted to go down to the rhino races," Kyosuke said, a hand still on the door handle.

"Busy…" Hiko muttered. "Mmm, yeah, I have to get this report finished as soon as possible." He propped his head up on his left hand and played with the edges of the pages with his other. Kyosuke sighed.

"You've been working on that report for the past three days straight. Don't you think you need a break?"

Hiko furrowed his brow. A break _did_ sound good, come to think of it… But he looked down at the page again, seeing its crumpled-ness and blank spaces. Fire Lord Kyouza's angry face flashed in his mind, and Hiko frowned. He shook his head.

"I can't—I _really_ have to get this finished." As if to finish the discussion, he picked up the book and buried his nose into it, shutting himself off from Kyosuke, who sighed again.

"All that work can't be good for you… Well, suit yourself. See you tomorrow, I guess," he said, and left the room, shutting the door behind him with a dull _thud_. Hiko pretended not to notice, trying to read the book, but the words swam before his eyes, turning into a muddled mess of redundant facts. He set the book down again, trying to concentrate on the words, but finding his eyes unfocused and wandering.

He stood up suddenly, pushing his chair back. It scraped against the wooden floor. Palms on the surface of the table, he gazed blankly at the paper before him.

Rhino races _definitely_ sounded more interesting than staying cooped up inside for the fourth day straight, working on some unoriginal report.

He made his decision, then strode over to the door in large, sweeping steps, throwing it open.

"Kyosuke!" he called out, his voice echoing down the hallway. Kyosuke turned, a knowing smile on his face as Hiko said, "Wait for me!"

• • •

**Author's Notes:** I should've probably lengthened this chapter, but oh well :P Any and all feedback, especially constructive criticism, is greatly appreciated, as well as any comments on my OCs. Thanks!


	3. Chapter 3

**By Blood and Iron**  
. helium lost . 

**Author's Notes:** Fast updates? You betcha. The plot bunny is growing into some sort of Goliath, and I'm hoping to finish this soon, as I don't plan on it being that long (though that'll probably change -.-;).

• **3 **•

Hiko sighed, blowing clouds of dust up from around him. Outside, it was beginning to get dark, with the sun setting beyond the distant hills. Sure, those rhino races _had_ been fun—minutes of exhilaration and adrenaline, watching thousands of pounds of rhino dashing around a racetrack, riders perched precariously on their backs—but he was beginning to wonder if it had been worth it, what with his unfinished report and mounting feeling of tension when he realized that he only had precious few hours to finish it now.

Well, okay, it _had_ been funny to see Kyosuke get drunk afterward, and he never knew that Haruki could sing, nevermind make up a song about flying bison off the top of his head—with decent lyrics, too; none of that random nonsense with squirrels and whatnot. Though he _had_ to admit that things stopped being so funny when Jirou somehow convinced himself that he was a Yuu Yan archer, and had nearly clipped off Hiko's ear with a knife he'd thrown, believing that it was an arrow (his left bangs now hung slightly shorter than his right).

He frowned. It was difficult enough to concentrate; letting his mind wander wasn't going to help. He sat on the hard wooden floor, brushing dust off the bookshelves. He ran a finger down the spines of the books, looking for something that could present new information, or at least a new viewpoint. _Spears and Harpoons_—no, that wasn't going to help; he was researching bigger weapons, and those were mainly Water Tribe weapons, anyway. _Explosives_—that looked interesting. He pulled it off the shelf. _An Age of Violence_—that one _definitely_ looked interesting. He pulled it off the shelf, coughing from the cloud of dust that wafted up to greet him.

He opened it up to a random page, scanning the text. He rolled his eyes as he read—just some book against violence and its use, citing various events in which it destroyed more than created, hindered more than helped—he shut the book, and as he did so, something fluttered out—a few sheets of folded up paper. He unfolded it and smoothed it out on his lap, reading it by the light of the flickering candles.

The first thing he noticed was that it was dated from sixty years ago. The next thing he noticed was that it was from Professor Maikotsu, head of anthropology at Huojing University; he remembered hearing stories of the man—he had spent some time in the jungle doing who-knows-what, then returned to Huojing, only to go crazy days later from some sort of poisonous bug bite or sickness; he had died a week or two later. It was a shame, said the newspapers, that such a great mind had been lost. He _had_, after all, been the one who had researched the various subdivisions of benders, and had been the first to report plantbenders and sandbenders with in-depth theses. That, and he also had various discoveries of new species credited to his name.

Hiko smoothed out the paper again, reading the professor's spindly writing.

_Dear Sai:_

_Thank you for your letter. Your carrier hawk is truly amazing to have been able to find me in such a remote place as this, considering the fact that I hardly know where I am myself. All I know is that I was going through the rainforest in the southern part of the Earth Kingdom; other than that, I have no clue about where I am, though I can say that there's a mountain range not too far from here._

_I'm sorry for not having contacted you sooner; I have been so absorbed in what has been going on around me. I'm sorry for making you worry. But I have made an amazing discovery, one that may change the entire world's concept of bending. While I was on my expedition, I stumbled upon a clan of metalbenders._

Hiko paused and rubbed his eyes, making sure that he'd read the last bit correctly. _Metalbenders_? Was such a thing even possible?

_I realize that it might be hard to believe—I found it hard to believe myself—but I assure you that it is completely true. These people decorate their huts with things of amazing intricacy, coils of metal shaped in the most amazing designs. What's more, each of the huts is built of bricks that fit together so perfectly that they have no need to use mortar to join them, and that I cannot wedge even a single piece of paper into the cracks. They have done this by using very precise metal tools; those tools don't distort and change shape like wood, nor do they chip and become uneven like stone._

Hiko stood and walked over to the stone wall of the library. He peered at the stone, noticing that all of them were joined by mortar, and, though their shapes were very similar, there were definitely differences in them, preventing them from fitting together as perfectly as the professor had described. He sat at the table by the wall, quickly glancing outside. The sky was dark, and the stars were twinkling. He continued reading.

_I have taken some time to learn their language, a dialect of our common tongue. Their creation myth is a long and detailed one, one that even I have some difficulty understanding, except for the fact that it centers around two siblings—brother and sister—named Jin and Yin. However, it was enough for me to verify my theory: through forced isolation, the metalbenders, who were once earthbenders, managed to hone their skills to the point where their bending abilities completely split from earthbending._

_The metalbenders have curious practices, in addition to their curious history. All of the members of the tribe are heavily pierced—they have metal bars and studs driven through the flesh all over their faces and bodies: multiple pairs on their eyebrows; dozens on each ear; three or more on their lips; various on their nose, including through the bridge… and that's just their face. These piercings appear to be a measure of status—the chief has the most piercings; he even has bars through the webs of his fingers._

Hiko looked at his hands and imagined having bars through the webs. He winced—he had gotten a splinter through the web between his thumb and index finger, and it had hurt quite a bit, flashing white-hot pain through his hand. He couldn't imagine having bars driven through _all_ the webs…

_Despite this somewhat menacing appearance, the metalbenders are a peaceful group. They hardly fight, and when they do, it's settled diplomatically. Even when they bend, they have a very passive stance, which is almost entirely different from the traditional earthbending stances, which are solid, secure, and stable. Rather, the metalbending stance seems to resemble a cross between waterbending and earthbending: the metal doesn't emerge in chunks or rocks like earthbending, but rather, in a liquidy, very malleable form. It's this that lets the metalbenders manipulate the metal so freely and easily; in seconds, they can create an intricate chain necklance. It's almost like someone spinning thread._

_But jewelry isn't the only thing they produce. When the need arises, these metalbenders can create very formidable weapons. I have watched some of them hunt animals, and it is quite the amazing sight—if they are hunting fast-moving animals, like birds or small mammals, the hunters draw metal from the particular necklaces they wear—a chain from which balls of various different metals dangle—and, in deft movements almost too fast to see, they turn the metal into little daggers and throw them at the animals. Think of the throwing-weapons specialists back home, only take their accuracy and increase it twofold._

_But they don't use only daggers—no, they create whatever the need calls for. When hunting larger prey, they create swords—perfect swords. I handled one after the hunt, and it was amazingly balanced, and so sharp that my finger barely touched it before it was cut._

_And it was created in a matter of minutes!_

_After I held the sword, the hunter who created it took it back and melted it back into a few balls, which he joined to his necklace. He told me that weapons are used, but not kept, which I thought was a shame; they were truly very beautiful, and perfect._

Hiko frowned. He, too, couldn't understand the idea of destroying a perfectly good weapon. If it wasn't broken or obsolete, why destroy it?

_There are no tribes for many miles around; these forests are thick and harsh. In fact, I believe that this isolation is what has made these metalbenders so passive—they encounter rno one, and they have no need to fight, to build up an arms stockhold. In fact, their passive bending stance may indicate that their fighting ability is far below, say, your average earthbender; they may have few skills outside of hunting instinct._

_Imagine, if there are metalbenders, what other kind of benders can be out there? Could there possibly be benders that can manipulate other elements, or even things that aren't elements—light, shadow, or even the human senses?_

_Please write back soon._

_Sincerely,_

_Kazuki Maikotsu_

_PS: If you could please forward this to Kazuo, my assistant, I would greatly appreciate it. By n means am I done writing a thesis on these people, but Kazuo would probably be interested in these early finds. Hopefully, he's kept the anthropology department in good order in my absence._

_K. M._

Hiko set the letter down, a thoughtful expression on his face. Metalbenders—it was a whimsical idea, but if it was true, it held so much potential. He silently thanked Sai, who must've had bad memory—this Sai must've been reading that book when he used the letter as a bookmark and forgot about it.

Either way, Hiko felt ideas storming and brewing in his mind.

What if the metalbenders _didn't_ destroy those perfect weapons?

What if, say, the metalbenders were provided with blueprints of complex machinery that was either very difficult to build, or took a very long time to build?

What if the metalbenders supplied these skills to the Fire nation?

Hiko smiled. This was beginning to sound good. He pulled another blank sheet of paper toward him, and began to write a new report, one that he was sure would be more interesting than his last.

• • •

**Author's Notes:** Wrote this chapter by flashlight from 11:30PM to 1:30AM last night -.-; So, any comments, constructive criticism, feedback, etc. is greatly appreciated. Thanks!


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